The invention relates to a solar energy installation for chemical conversions comprising a receiver assembly for solar radiation and a chemical reactor which is supplied with solar radiation energy by the receiver assembly and in which chemical reactions take place due to the direct action of the solar radiation energy.
Solar energy installations in combination with chemical reactors are known. They comprise, for example, a reactor which is arranged on a tower and which is fed the solar radiation energy by reflection by means of heliostats which focus the solar radiation energy onto part of the reactor in the tower. The disadvantage of this arrangement is to be seen in the fact that the reactor has to be arranged on the tower and, therefore, very long pipelines are required for transportation of the materials. Also, expedient implementation of incidence of solar radiation energy into the reactor is only possible from one direction.
In another embodiment a paraboloidal reflector is provided for focusing the solar radiation energy onto a reactor arranged in the focal point thereof. In this case, too, long and also flexible feed pipes are required for the materials to be transported to the reactor which is arranged in the focal point and is taken along by the paraboloidal reflector in accordance with the position of the sun.
In the known embodiments for such reactors with solar radiation, provision is made either for part of the outside wall of the reactor to be irradiated (case I) or for the radiation to get into the interior of the reactor (case II) through a transparent window (e.g. glass or quartz). Disadvantages of these embodiments are an irregular supply of energy, large temperature gradients between wall and reaction chamber (case I) or sealing problems with the window (case II), which involves limitations in the reactor design and also practically excludes pressure operation on a technical scale.